Thanks everyone, for the positive responses on the "First Year" report posted last month!

Here's an updated chart showing iofoto Feb sales compared to Jan sales per distributor. Overall, Feb microstock sales increased 18% over January making Feb our best month to date.

We have just started uploading to BigStockPhoto and a few others on the left- don't read too much into the low numbers- they will increase.

We use Dreamhost- really excellent customer service! The have one-click packages to install WordPress and all kinds of other good stuff. You can also buy dedicated IPs if you need.

Here's the link: http://www.dreamhost.com/r.cgi?171983

Find one of your images, then click on your username. When that page comes up, copy the URL. For example, our portfolio is located at: http://www.snapvillage.com/UserProfile/MyPage.aspx?ghnfrt=MCREbfDCj1s9wtC1laNYiw%3d%3d

QuoteYou said you have high returns from RM and microstock RF. Where do you feel is your money and time invested best?

Both, but because RM would be a new market for you, set a budget of time and resources to test the waters.  And traditional RF is not going away anytime soon! I tested microstock for almost a year before making a commitment to invest any significant resources.

QuoteJupiter opened up  for submitting images to them for StockXpert users. The current deal is that the photographer receives a commission of 20% for images which should stay 2 years exclusive as Royalty Free with the Jupiter collection. Jupiter then will distribute these images to 200 or so additional agents. Do you think this is a good deal? Is it a good chance we microstock photographers should jump on? I would love to get more involved with traditional agencies but good information is very rare.  Can you share this information?

I can't share any financial/contractual info because of confidentiality clauses in my contracts. In broad terms, 20% is not too bad. (iStock only pays 20% on microstock prices...) If you were to distribute through a third party company that aggregates photographers, your "percent of a percent" could be less than the 20% being offered by Jupiter.

There's a number of excellent choices out there- Corbis, Jupiter, Getty, Masterfile, Alamy, Photolibrary, Mediamagnet, along with hundreds of more regional opportunities. Research each one and determine the best fit for your work.

And again, invest only what you feel comfortable. Last year was the most tumultuous year the stock industry has experienced that I have seen in the 25 years of shooting stock.  Those changes will continue for the next several years. Change creates opportunity.

The single easiest way to get the attention of an editor is to have perfectly executed unique imagery. Make sure your work stands out from the crowd!

Quotewhat tips can you give everyone else here to compete with someone who is shooting the same stuff they are, but in bigger volume with a freelanced staff?

Like every photographer, every client has a unique design sensibility. Mix that design outlook with the designer's client who again has specific likes/dislikes, and then add a matrix of demographics, ethnicity or perhaps the color theme of the design project. All of a sudden, there's a huge need for a diversity of work.

My advice, and what we do, is to take any keyword and add your own unique interpretation. Something as simple as the choice of background or wardrobe color will make the shot stand-out from the rest. Shoot with a different type of light. Do not copy what already exists- you only hurt yourself by creating more of the same!

Another thought is to regionalize your images. For example, while generic is good in some cases, trying shooting business on the street where the "sense" of location is part of the image.

Stock is about a lifestyle of creativity, loving photography, and doing your best to make a successful business. 

QuoteCould you share the numbers?

No.

QuoteBTW, I heard you laid off most of your staff in December.  Is that true?

Yes, I unfortunately had to make changes to our workflow 2 months ago in response to diminishing returns on our contract work. We now outsource all our digital imaging to the same great people on a freelance basis. Business sometimes requires tough decisions that aren't fun for anyone. I'm really proud of everyone, and let me know if anyone needs freelance work- I'll pass along the names of some awesome folks!

QuoteYour graph doesn't list BigStockPhoto.

We have just started uploading to BigStockPhoto, and looking forward to good relationship!

Sorry Tomasz... I wasn't clear. I look at the "sell-through" rate for all time, not on an annual basis. On Dreamstime, the number is right above your Earnings Balance ("Showing 1 of 20 of ____ Images") break-out. Just divide that number by the number of images you have on the site. I'm sure your sell-through is much higher than mine because you were smart enough to get into microstock 3 years ago!

As promised, here's our Year 1 report for the iofoto collection. We started uploading January 2007.

First and foremost- the entire microstock community should be really pleased with the amount of information sharing, both members and distributors. For a stock shooter with 25 years of trying to make a living in stock, simply the concept of re-ordering search results by "Downloads-Descending" can be called a phenomenon. This is the type of information that used to run up our bar tab!

As most people know, I diversify my stock revenue through rights-managed, traditional royalty-free, midstock and microstock distributors. Overall, our strong growth in the past 12 months has been at the high end and low-end. In one metric outside of microstock, 26 out of 30 best sellers were rights-managed with the very top RM images creating over $10,000 each in revenue. Likewise, we had select microstock image productions returning close to $10,000. I use the term "production" as we look at the specific ROI on a shoot basis. Where RM is all about usage rights and exclusivity, RF is about maximizing a production since those images might be offered as both single image or subscription downloads.

Another critical metric is not the average number of downloads per image, but our "sell-through" rate. That's the number of images licensed one or more times divided by the total number on the site. We average 60% or higher on the best performing sites, and probably 95% or higher on a subscription site. This is the true bottom line when it comes to reviewing your past work- look at the number of images that have actually produced revenue.   Specifically, look at your "sell-through" rate in reverse... If I licensed 60% of my images, that means that 40% of my investment did not produce any return! Remember that at some distributors, the default search order favors best sellers so that new clients see already proven images. In this case, new images are swimming upstream until they get a few downloads.

Sell-through rates should naturally increase over time. Having  diverse portfolio that targets a diversity of keywords will help. My business goal has always been to have a consistently selling portfolio. Our sales might not always be the highest, but every month we're guaranteed revenue. I have images produced over 15 years ago that are still providing healthy revenue.



The chart above is our monthly revenue. There's no numbers, just trends. We saw the typical summer slump- which unexpectedly extended into September- usually a strong month. December was seasonably down as well. Again, as an ode to diversity, our RM December sales were really strong. Last month, January, was our best month ever exceeding our November by 4%. While the percentage increase isn't huge, January is really only a "3 week" month. For various reasons, we uploaded very few images in both December and January which makes January a good base level to analyze future efforts. We're back uploading this month with another 1,500+ images.

Are we making money? Yes, we're creating strong revenue, but no, we're not quite break-even. At the current growth rate, I would anticipate positive returns within the next 6 months. In just my business perspective, if you can break-even in stock within the first 3 years, all is good!  Most businesses can take 5 years or more to return a profit.



The above is a chart of January sales by distributor. Look at this with a very critical eye- not every distributor has a great month, every month. Not all distributors have all iofoto images. On several sites, we have less than 50% of our collection represented. On others, our recently uploaded images are still swimming upstream. Some of the sites in the lower tier may be on top a year from now- the microstock industry is too new and there are too many industry changes that may affect sales. For this reason, we are hesitant to commit to exclusivity. A really strong marketing campaign, partnership, merger or alliance amongst any of the distributors could change the dynamics in just a few short months.

I anticipate microstock/midstock to continue to be a strong part of our overall revenue, but certainly not the only revenue source. Diversification is good and we're investing significantly in RM this year as well. As microstock/midstock prices rise, not only the photographer but the client and distributor will all benefit. In the end, we're all in the business of delivering images that clients need!

The sharing is really important. Thanks to everyone on this forum!

Ron

We've had over 150 downloads this month so far- both single image and subscription.

Quote from: hospitalera on December 29, 2007, 14:24

Quote from: iofoto on December 29, 2007, 06:04

Cropping images to squares for better search results is easily accomplished with the larger file size.

Can you explain that a bit more please? SY

Sure, the square image fills more of the space allotted for a thumbnail. A square thumbnail appears larger than a corresponding vertical or horizontal and attracts the customer's eye. A square crop doesn't work for every image and takes some extra effort- however, a square crop is a good technique for varying the look of your portfolio within the search results.

I've been using the H2D/H3D-39s for 2 years now and there are some advantages to production flow. For example, to maximize a stock shoot, I may choose to shoot with an H3D-39. Only when editing later, do I decide which images go to RM, RF, or microstock. Having the larger file size provides options since some stock agencies prefer the larger 39mp files.

Another advantage is cropping. You can literally crop away half the image and still end up with a file larger than a 1DsMII. Cropping images to squares for better search results is easily accomplished with the larger file size.

On the other hand, a Hasselblad workflow takes about twice as much time, and keeping up with their continual software and firmware updates is no fun. (Our Hasselblad tech rep is on speed-dial!) The Hasselblad cameras also don't work much below freezing. Last winter, I was in North Dakota in zero degree (fahrenheit) temperatures... the H3D-39 would simply not work. Picked up the Canon and had no trouble whatsoever!

In summary, there's no camera  that's perfect for every situation. I believe that photographic creativity is partly driven by the technology at hand whether the photographer is using a Holga or a Hasselblad. In the end, its the vision that counts.

Feb 07. Love the interaction, community!

iofoto is part of the stock.xchng community- currently have 17 images that have been downloaded over 20,000 times. The free images are a great way to support the designer community, build your links and brand, and eventually build sales. Really fun to see how designers enhance our photos and then use on their portfolio sites with links back to the photographer. (We also have a few free images on DT to help build sales.)

Here's our page on stock.xchng: http://www.sxc.hu/profile/iofoto

We've had 15 sales, one at $50 and all the rest at $25.

We have both a 90mm and 24mm Canon TS-E. Love shooting with them, mostly for the effect of a really shallow and selective depth-of-field by angling the lens plane away from the subject plane. However, almost all our microstock distributors reject the images because there's not enough in focus for them. The macros, on the other hand, love this style of image!

Right now, we're not on subscription on SnapVillage. That may change... we're testing out the higher price point approach for now. All images are default at $25 and we're moving some higher. We do have subscription available on all other distributors including Shutterstock and will opt-in to the upcoming StockXpert offer.

We've had 9 sales on SnapVillage in the past 3 weeks. All at either the $25 or $50 level.

Ron
http://www.iofoto.com

And another sale- this one at the $50 level!

Hi leaf,

We're in the process of uploading most of our collection (9,000+) with a few rejections along the way. I believe there's lots of room for microstock prices to increase. Thus I decided on a moderate SnapVillage price point to start. I would recommend the same to anyone uploading- if the client finds the perfect image, the difference between $5 and $25 won't keep them from using your photo. If you have a quality portfolio, push up the prices. 

In addition, we're aggressively moving many of our Lucky Oliver images into the SideShow which is also enjoying good success. (One recently uploaded unique image is priced at $100 for the blog and $5,000 for the EL. Will definitely let you know if that one sells!)

Just recorded our first SnapVillage sale- at $25. We're pricing almost all images at $25 with a few at the higher level.

Quote from: Pixart on September 07, 2007, 02:51
Ron, you must be a member.  I don't have access to the article.   

Yes, Selling Stock is a subscription site. I have sent Jim an email asking for an excerpt to post.
(Selling Stock has tons of great info- really good analysis of the overall stock industry & marketplace...)

Nice article about Yuri by Jim Pickerell on Selling Stock!

Profile: Yuri Arcurs, Microstock Legend
http://www.selling-stock.com

Hello Michael, I would strongly recommend the 580EX. The extra power, and the ability to add a Quantum Turbo battery to power the unit are well worth the extra investment. You might look into the off-camera extension cord as well for more creative lighting effects. We have always had good luck with TTL although there are times when you ned to override the exposure slightly.


Ron

Quote from: bryan_luckyoliver on July 29, 2007, 17:17
  He's a pretty smart fellow...

Risk = reward. Investing in unique shoots that are hard and/or expensive to produce wll almost always guarantee a top slot in search results and the subsequent sales success. Good strategy Yuri!